BOX SCORE: #3 Cal State San Bernardino 3, Sonoma State 0
ROHNERT PARK, Calif- After falling behind 2-0 in the match, Sonoma State rallied to hold set point at 24-23 in the third frame, but Cal State San Bernardino flexed its muscles and scored the final three points, completing the three set sweep (25-22, 25-21, 26-24) over the host Seawolves in front of 702 fans at The Wolves' Den on Friday night. SSU has its eight-match win streak snapped and falls to 7-1 in the CCAA (10-3 overall). The Coyotes, ranked third in the nation, remain flawless this season at 13-0 and 8-0 in conference play.
It was an extremely close match the entire way, featuring 17 ties and seven lead changes, most of which came in the opening set. Sonoma State jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead then, after some back-and-forth rallies, the Seawolves scored three straight points midway through the set to lead 14-11 and force a Cal State San Bernardino timeout. The Coyotes would get within one point on a couple of occasions before SSU grabbed its largest lead of the night, a four-point advantage at 19-15 to again force a Coyote timeout. The momentum quickly shifted, however, as the visitors would score 10 of the next 13 points to come from behind and win 25-22.
The Seawolves again grabbed a quick 3-1 lead in the second frame, but the Coyotes would go on a 8-1 run to induce a Sonoma State timeout with the scoreboard reading 9-4. Not going away that easily, SSU took advantage of some miscues by CSUSB and trailed by just three on a couple of occasions late in the second set. Down 23-19, a combination of a
Kelsey Hull kill and a Coyote attack error, Sonoma State and its crowd found some life and trailed by just two at 23-21. Reigning National Player of the Year Samantha Middleborn and teammate Priscilla Collings put a stop to that rally and took the 25-21 win to lead the match 2-0.
Nearly identical to the starts of the first two sets, Sonoma State started fast in the third with two kills by Hull and another by Ross to lead 3-0. That's when Cal State San Bernardino turned it around, reeling off eight straight points to grab a 8-3 lead. True to form, the Seawolves, thanks to a pair of kills by Hull and
Regan Richert, combined with a pair of attack errors, SSU trailed by just one at 8-7. The third set played extremely close the rest of the way as neither team lead by more than four points down the stretch. Middleborn would serve an ace to put CSUSB up 20-17, but two unforced erros and a kill by
Ally Sather pumped more life into the home team and crowd. However, a kill and two SSU attack errors again put the Coyotes within striking distance of finishing the sweep.
Not so fast. After head coach
Bear Grassl called a timeout with his team trailing by three at 23-20, Sonoma State got a kill by Sather and earned a point off a Megan Johnson error to trail by just one at 23-22, forcing Cal State San Bernardino to ask for time and regroup with the hometown crowd getting back into the drama. Right out of the timeout, Morgan Carty smashed a ball, but right into the block of Hull to knot the set at 23-23. Then,
Hayley Ross got the Seawolves to set point with a service ace and a 24-23 lead. But, once again, the nationally-ranked Coyotes played their game and earned the sweep with two kills by Carty and a block by Danielle Newcombe to seal the deal at 26-24.
Hull pounded a team-high 10 kills and hit .273. Sather and
Keala Peterson each added eight kills apiece, due in part to the match-high 34 assists of Ross. As a team, Sonoma State hit .155 while holding the powerful Cal State San Bernardino offense to .229.
Taylor Krenwinkel had a big night on defense, making 19 digs.
For the Coyotes, Middleborn slammed 11 kills to the floor and hit .409 to lead all players. Three CSUSB players tied with nine digs each.
It was a relatively sloppy match from the service line, as both teams combined for 17 service errors, including nine by Cal State San Bernardino.
Sonoma State will regroup and reload in less than 24 hours when another nationally-ranked team comes rolling into The Wolves' Den. No. 12 UC San Diego, which swept Humboldt State on Friday, is 10-1 overall and 6-1 in the CCAA. The Seawolves and Tritons will go to battle at 7:00 p.m. Saturday at The Wolves' Den.
